The number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) remains elevated in many countries since the crisis. This country note examines the characteristics of those at risk of being NEET in Australia along with policies to help meet the challenge. It also includes many new youth-specific indicators on family formation, self-sufficiency, income and poverty, health and social cohesion.

How can we build a global economy driven by innovation when half the population is missing out on the action? The short answer is, we can’t.

The city of Newcastle is fast emerging as a smart, liveable and sustainable city.

Selected findings for Australia from the report "The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle"

Australia has one of the highest rates of obesity: nearly one in three adults are obese. As a result, Australians live on average 2.7 years less due to overweight. The impact on the economy is large: overweight accounts for 8.6% of health expenditure; and lowers labour market outputs by the equivalent of 371 thousand full time workers per year. Combined, this means that overweight reduces Australia’s GDP by 3.1%.

This country note provides information on latest trends in income inequalities as well as key findings from the 2011 OECD report "Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising".

This note presents key findings for Japan from Society at a Glance 2014 - OECD Social indicators. This 2014 publication also provides a special chapter on: the crisis and its aftermath: a “stress test” for societies and for social policies.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is increasingly recognised worldwide as an efficient waste management policy to help improve recycling and reduce landfilling of products and materials. This Forum took place on 17-19 June 2014, in Tokyo, Japan, to identify key challenges and opportunities for further developing EPR policies.

This country note provides information on latest trends in income inequalities as well as key findings from the 2015 OECD report "In it Together: Why less inequality benefits all".

The OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Transactions has continuously urged Japan since 2002 to strengthen its efforts to fight bribery by Japanese companies in their foreign business activities, and implementation of the Convention on Combating the Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

The number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) remains elevated in many countries since the crisis. This country note examines the characteristics of those at risk of being NEET in Japan with policies to help meet the challenge. It also includes many new youth-specific indicators on family formation, self-sufficiency, income and poverty, health and social cohesion.

The Japanese economy has gained momentum and is creating jobs, according to a new OECD report. The latest OECD Economic Survey of Japan, presented in Tokyo by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, says that per capita growth rates in recent years have matched those across the OECD – a major improvement. The Survey underlines the key role Abenomics has played in the economic revival.

To improve productivity and help address socio-economic challenges, such as ageing, Japan needs to strengthen its innovation performance.

The OECD has appointed Masamichi Kono as a Deputy Secretary-General. He will replace Rintaro Tamaki, who will be stepping down after six fruitful years in the post.

Selected findings for Japan from the report "The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle"

This country highlight puts the spotlight on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people: their numbers, their economic situation and well-being and policies to improve LGBT inclusivity. It also includes a special chapter on people’s perceptions of social and economic risks and presents a selection of social indicators.

This one-pager note presents key findings for Austria from Society at a Glance 2011 - OECD Social indicators. This 2011 publication also provides a special chapter on unpaid work across the OECD.

This spotlight report draws upon the OECD report Equity and Quality in Education: Supporting Disadvantaged Students and Schools.

There are few OECD countries where vocational education and training (VET) is held in such high regard or takes so many forms as in Austria. Some 60 percent of young Austrians aged between 25 and 34 have completed a VET course below tertiary level (vocational school or technical college).

This note presents key findings for Austria from Society at a Glance 2014 - OECD Social indicators. This 2014 publication also provides a special chapter on: the crisis and its aftermath: a “stress test” for societies and for social policies.

The number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs) remains elevated in many countries since the crisis. This country note examines the characteristics of those at risk of being NEET in Austria along with policies to help meet the challenge. It also includes many new youth-specific indicators on family formation, self-sufficiency, income and poverty, health and social cohesion.

This conference in Nairobi, Kenya, addressed specific issues relating to financial literacy in Africa and the MENA region. It presented the output of the Russia/OECD/World Bank Trust Fund on Financial Literacy and Education.

This article by OECD Deputy Secretary-General Rintaro Tamaki focuses on three issues that will be important in shaping the future of the Asian economic and financial community: trade, funding long-term investment and strengthened regional financial co-operation.

The main hallmarks of the global financial crisis were too-big-to-fail institutions taking on too much risk with other people’s money: excess leverage and default pressure resulting from contagion and counterparty risk. This paper looks at whether the Basel III reforms address these issues effectively and proposes improvements to the current reform proposals.

This G20 report looks at the evolution of private institutional investment in infrastructure and examines how the market has developed; analyses various investment vehicles with a snapshot of the growth experienced in the market; categorises methods used for investing in infrastructure; and, highlights the challenges and barriers to investment.

The world economy desperately needs more productive investment: to create jobs, to increase productivity and to meet critical global goals like combating climate change. But instead of more productive investment, we are getting rising stock markets. Sadly too many policymakers and journalists don’t know the difference.

The reforms to the pensions system in Mexico, especially the introduction of a system of individual defined contribution accounts, have significantly improved the system’s financial sustainability.

This article on public equity financing for SMEs complements earlier OECD work on market-based finance for SMEs. The development of this market segment could promote investment in SMEs and, together with securitisation and other non-bank debt financing instruments, encourage an enhanced allocation of risk and risk taking, and thus support growth.

When I was interviewing 200 bankers and banking staff working in Europe's financial centre the City of London, perhaps the most telling was the language. Not so much the profanities– though there were many of those–nor the technical stuff and three-letter acronyms (TLAs). Most striking were terms that seemed designed to sidestep any possibility of ethical discussion.

Further structural reforms are needed to help the business sector boost productivity growth and overcome the key challenges of sluggish investment in advanced economies and excess capacity in emerging economies, according to a new OECD report.

One of the puzzles of the post-crisis period is low observed aggregate productivity growth. This report dissects the problem using the company and sector value-added data of more than 11,000 of the world’s largest listed non-financial and non-real-estate companies, taken from 20 different industry sectors.

Certain growth-promoting policies can have negative side-effects by increasing the vulnerability of economies to financial crises. Typical examples are greater openness to financial flows or more liberalised financial markets.

This working paper explores the role of public debt managers in contingent liability management based on the results of a background OECD survey and the information provided by seven task force countries. The results indicate that there are certain roles and responsibilities assumed by the public debt managers in this field, while the degree of involvement differs widely across countries.

25-26 January 2018 - The first annual meeting of the G20 Global Infrastructure Connectivity Alliance will bring together policy makers and practitioners to discuss the state of play in global connectivity, innovative practices and the outlook for connectivity.

Riding the wave of technological innovation in finance, the robo-advice model has emerged as one potential solution to increase the accessibility and affordability of getting help to invest savings for retirement. OECD's Jessica Mosher looks at the potential benefits, risks and challenges.

Weak labour productivity growth continues to mark the world’s advanced economies and risks compromising improvements in living standards, says a new OECD report.

This seminar, jointly organised by the OECD and the Ministry of Finance of Japan, will address quality infrastructure investment, governance, planning and technology issues as well as data collection and benchmarking for quality infrastructure. It is taking place on 12-13 September 2018, in Tokyo, Japan.

This report provides, for the Flemish community of Belgium, an independent analysis of major issues facing the educational evaluation and assessment framework, current policy initiatives, and possible future approaches.

This note presents key findings for Belgium from Society at a Glance 2014 - OECD Social indicators. This 2014 publication also provides a special chapter on: the crisis and its aftermath: a “stress test” for societies and for social policies.

The Belgian economy has returned to growth and continues scoring well on broader measures of well-being, but further reforms will be needed to secure fiscal sustainability while promoting employment and competitiveness, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Belgium 2015.

Gender inequality is one of the most primitive and oldest forms of inequality. Sadly, it is still very much a reality in most parts of the world. In many countries women do not have equal access to education, healthcare, safety, work or political decision-making.

Belgium is making a laudable push to direct more development aid to the poorest countries, but to deliver on this it needs to set firm deadlines, make its aid programme more flexible, and should reverse a decline in overall aid, according to an OECD Review.

Belgium’s tax, labour, pension and education reforms have improved the potential for stronger, sustainable and inclusive growth over the long term. Keeping up this momentum on structural reforms is key to energise the economy and keep it resilient to external risks and uncertainties, according to a new OECD report.

Capacity Utilization in Italy decreased to 76.80 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 from 77.10 percent in the third quarter of 2019. Capacity Utilization in Italy averaged 75.58 percent from 1986 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 81 percent in the fourth quarter of 1988 and a record low of 64.90 percent in the first quarter of 2009. This page provides the latest reported value for - Italy Capacity Utilization - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Capacity Utilization in Sweden decreased to 89.20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 from 91.30 percent in the third quarter of 2019. Capacity Utilization in Sweden averaged 87.08 percent from 1980 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 91.30 percent in the third quarter of 2019 and a record low of 76 percent in the second quarter of 2009. In Sweden, Capacity Utilization is the difference between the potential and actual use of an input. Capacity utilization is high when actual output is close to potential output because the most use is being made of labor and capital. This page provides - Sweden Capacity Utilization - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Capacity Utilization in Canada decreased to 81.20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 from 81.50 percent in the third quarter of 2019. Capacity Utilization in Canada averaged 82.89 percent from 1987 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 87.30 percent in the first quarter of 1988 and a record low of 72.70 percent in the second quarter of 2009. The rates of capacity utilization are measures of the intensity with which industries use their production capacity. Capacity utilization is the percentage of actual to potential output. This page provides the latest reported value for - Canada Capacity Utilization - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Capacity Utilization in South Africa decreased to 79.90 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 from 80.40 percent in the third quarter of 2019. Capacity Utilization in South Africa averaged 81.86 percent from 1971 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 86.20 percent in the first quarter of 1974 and a record low of 76.90 percent in the third quarter of 1992. This page provides - South Africa Capacity Utilization - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Capacity Utilization in Russia increased to 63 percent in March from 62 percent in February of 2020. Capacity Utilization in Russia averaged 56.37 percent from 1995 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 66 percent in July of 2017 and a record low of 38 percent in March of 1997. This page provides - Russia Capacity Utilization - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Capacity Utilization in Brazil increased to 78.70 percent in February from 78 percent in January of 2020. Capacity Utilization in Brazil averaged 80.76 percent from 2003 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 84.60 percent in January of 2008 and a record low of 75.90 percent in May of 2018. In Brazil, capacity utilization refers to the operational capacity of production being used in the manufacturing sector (percentage of maximum capacity), under normal conditions of operation. This page provides - Brazil Capacity Utilization - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Capacity Utilization in Japan decreased to 95.10 points in December from 95.50 points in November of 2019. Capacity Utilization in Japan averaged 110.70 points from 1968 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 136.10 points in November of 1968 and a record low of 68.60 points in February of 2009. In Japan, capacity utilization is the quantity of production divided by the quantity of production capacity, expressing the state of operations for various facilities in the manufacturing industry. It does not measure the absolute level of capacity utilization but the relative capacity utilization rate compared with the benchmark year. This page provides the latest reported value for - Japan Capacity Utilization - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.